REBNY Introduces New Ways to Measure Manhattan Office Building Visitations in Latest Report Utilizing Placer.ai Data

Midtown and Class A+ share of building visitation continues to grow

Tuesday to Thursday share of total office building visitations jumps to 68%

NEW YORK, NY –The Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY), the City’s leading real estate trade association, today released a new special report on Manhattan office building visitations using Placer.ai mobile data. The organization has released monthly analysis using this data for over two years, comparing office visitation totals each month to a 2019 baseline by office submarket and building class. The new report breaks down 2024 and early 2025 office visitation data to chart new, useful benchmarks. Some findings, such as market and class visitation shares, suggest that office conditions are returning to long-term trends. Others such as visitation share by weekday underscore the impact of post-pandemic hybrid workplace policies on visitations.

The full report can be found here.

Notable findings from the report include:

• While Midtown comprises 56% of building inventory, it attracts 66% of building visitations and has absorbed a larger share of visitations since 2019 in line with decreased visitations to Downtown buildings.

• Class A+ buildings account for less than 25% of inventory but 42% of building visitations.

• Prior to the pandemic, each weekday had a nearly equal share of visitation, ranging from 19% to 21%. As of February 2025, Monday and Friday’s combined share had fallen from 38% to 32% and Tuesday to Thursday’s share has jumped to 68%.

• Analysis of positive building visitation ratios for 2024 reinforces that Class A+ buildings and Midtown continue to outperform other segments of the office market, though their advantage has narrowed slightly as visitation stabilized. Notably, even many Class B/C buildings have experienced increases in visitation, with nearly 20% of this class registering positive ratio growth in the last three months.

REBNY plans to integrate some of these new benchmarks into the organization’s monthly Manhattan Office Visitation Report.

“While the traditional comparison to the 2019 baseline remains useful, it is not the only way to look at how the office market is performing,” said REBNY Vice President of Research Keith DeCoster. “This report explains additional market metrics such as visitation share and ratio that provide more forward-looking perspectives, as well as same-day visitation rates that account for seasonality.”

The buildings analyzed in these reports include a representative sample of various types of office buildings. The report analyzes mobile data provided by Placer.ai from geo-fenced buildings, including multiple phones carried by individual visitors. This has no impact on building visitation rates, as the same possibility of individuals carrying multiple phones exists in 2025 and the 2019 baseline.

Findings in these reports include visitation data with a minimum dwell time of seven minutes. In turn, data may include some visitors other than office employees such as building maintenance staff, visitors attending company meetings, as well as visitors to retail at the base of an office building. This visitation rate captures the broader economic impact and use of office buildings.

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ABOUT THE REAL ESTATE BOARD OF NEW YORK

The Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY) is the City’s leading real estate trade association. Founded in 1896, REBNY represents commercial, residential, and institutional property owners, builders, managers, investors, brokers, and salespeople; banks, financial service companies, utilities, attorneys, architects, and contractors; corporations, co-partnerships, and individuals professionally interested in New York City real estate. REBNY conducts research on various civic matters including tax policy, city planning and zoning, rental conditions, land use policy, building codes, and other city, state, and federal legislation. REBNY regularly publishes market data, policy reports, and broker surveys. In addition, REBNY provides for its members: informational, technical, and technological resources; networking and charitable service opportunities; qualifying and continuing education courses; professional education programs, seminars, and designations; career-changing awards; legal advice; and a wide range of additional member benefits. For more information, please visit www.rebny.com.

MEDIA CONTACT:

Chris Santarelli

csantarelli@rebny.com

(212) 616-5249